New Facebook Graph Search lets users search social information

Facebook announced a new method of sorting and consuming
information disseminated on the social network at a press
conference in Menlo Park, California 15 January. The service,
called "Graph Search," allows users to enter a query on Facebook
and get answers based on cross-sections of information within their
social network.

"Graph search is not Web search," said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook
founder and CEO. Zuckerberg pointed out that a Web search with the
query "hip-hop" will present links about hip-hop; Facebook's graph
search, on the other hand, can answer a query like "Which of my
friends live in San Francisco?"

Zuckerberg described "people, photos, places, and interests" as
four potential search dimensions for graph search. Zuckerberg used
the intersections of these areas to see Mexican restaurants his
friends had been to in the Palo Alto area, as well as to find the
best-liked photo of him and his wife in order to decide which one
to use on a Christmas card. Graph search queries use phrases rather
than keywords: "Friends who like Star
Wars and Harry Potter" was one example.

Facebook noted that the search could apply not only to current
friends, but to people a user might have met in real life and
"[wants] to meet them on Facebook." For instance, if a user met a
friend of a friend who mentioned he went to Kenyon but didn't catch
his last name, the query "People named Andrew who are friends with
Jacqui and went to Kenyon" would locate him (if his privacy
settings allow him to be searchable). Facebook also hinted at the
possibilities of the site as a place to get dates -- simply query
"Friends of friends who are single men."

Other searches that users could conduct: friends with photos
tagged in Yellowstone National Park or Paris; TV shows enjoyed by
software engineers; bars in Dublin that have been "liked"
specifically by people who live in Dublin.

Facebook stressed that users can only search content that has
been shared with them -- for instance, if it's not in your profile
that you watch Game of Thrones or you never
check in to the Mexican restaurants you frequent, you'll never
appear in those searches. However, if a friend checks you in to a
Mexican restaurant you attend with them and makes that post public,
that will likely feed into any graph searches your friends do.
Likewise, it appears that any post that is public (i.e.,
technically shared with every Facebook user) can be involved in a
query made by any user, regardless of their degree of direct social
involvement with you.

Zuckerberg highlighted the new privacy controls Facebook
introduced in recent weeks. The service now allows users to
batch-untag pictures or posts from an Activity Log pane on the
website, as well as create a request within the same window
requesting that the photo owner remove the post or picture
completely.

Users who may be interested in this feature could flock to more
completely fill in their interests, activities, and photos. But the
opposite may also happen: users who don't want to be involved in
their friends' searches might be compelled to scrape their profiles
of salient information and start worrying about how their friends
involve them by tagging them in posts, check-ins, and pictures.

Zuckerberg ended by pointing out that Facebook search also
integrates with Bing, to fill in the search gaps that users may try
to fulfil with graph search.

A limited beta of Facebook's graph search will begin rolling out
16 January. Initially, the searches will only be able to be
conducted in English (spoken by 40 percent of the service's user
base), but Zuckerberg stated that Facebook was only "starting" with
that language.

Facebook's event is currently in progress, and we will update
this article as more details become available. For up-to-the-minute
information, you can watch our liveblog.